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Prior to this trade, the raptors had a clear goal in mind: reach the nba finals. They've been trying to get over the hump for several years now with the same core to no avail, and I think even with LeBron leaving the conference, that core was not likely going to beat the Sixers or Celtics unless everything went right.

So that being said, I think this trade really took that into consideration. Masai handed Derozan a 5 year contract to get things done with Lowry and Ibaka, and he decided after year 2 of this contract that they weren't going to get it done.

Frankly, I completely agree with him.

I think in a worst case scenario, Masai just traded the bloated contract of a player he evaluated as not being good enough to reach "the goal", for 1 last chance at glory. By extension, if Kawhi walks, we speed up the rebuilding process (this is a good thing).

In the coming years, I think, the raptors will have some excellent young players to pass the torch too (wright, siakam, og, vanvleet), a ton of cap space and financial flexibility and some aging assets become much more valuable on the trade market in case of a salary dump (think Lowry for a couple overpaid scrub type deals). If we just kept paddling our boat during this 5 year window, I think we would probably realise soon that we are being passed by younger teams while also losing those young assets to free agency and not maximizing the trade value of our aging role players.

The fact that masai was able to maximize the value of this specific deal by also getting Danny Green (solid role player) instead of say Patty Mills in order to balance the money. The fact that he maximized the value of the deal by trading our "third center" (behind Valanciunas and Ibaka) Jakob Peoltl instead of our young SF/PFs OG Anunoby or Pascal Siakam.. I think it really shows how much consideration was put into this deal. If not Danny Green and Jakob, the deal just isn't "perfect" in terms of maximizing our chances THIS year and by extension... just wouldn't have made sense to me for the raptors.

For the spurs, I think they will be happy that they were able to get a decent pretty decent package for their disgruntled star who was set to leave at the end of the season. I think the goal in spurs land is to extend their playoff run another couple years while rebuilding and I think acquiring an all star, a promising potential starting centre and a first round pick accomplishes that goal.

Considering all of this, I think its a win win deal on paper even.

Potential disaster scenario:

Demar Derozan is essentially the GOAT in toronto. He pretty much single handedly built the culture of this team.

Hard work and dedication: He was a gym rat, and lead by example. Through hard work and perseverance, he improved his game every single year that he was with our team and showed all of our young players how to act.

Loyalty and Comeraderie: The first all star to rep Toronto as a viable destination in the NBA. He was loyal to a fault, and always the good guy in the locker room. Over the course of 9 years on the team, Demar (along with Lowry and Amir Johnson) really kept the drama in Toronto to a minimum. You never heard of any hostility or bullshit between players on our team and you never heard of guys going out to clubs... it was very team/family first.

Backstabbing Demar and bringing in Kawhi... a player who comes with some baggage and is becoming more known as a guy who doesn't play well with others. Lowry has a very volatile personality and we just fucked over his best friend. I think there may be some real chemistry issues with this team despite the raised ceiling and some real potential for toxicity both in the short term and long term. The feel good, underdog culture is almost assuredly dead.

I think Indiana is gonna be better then people give them credit. Oladipo really emerged as a top 15-20 talent last year and Tyreke Evans will be a nice addition their alongside him. Kyle Oquinn is a really solid backup C as well. I like the under the radar moves. If Myles Turner can show some marked improvement, Indiana will be very good.

For as much as people are hating on the east, I think there are 4 legit contenders here and probably only 2-3 in the West. It's just top heavy really.

Reasoning: So from the raptors perspective, it's obvious. We dump Ibaka's salary and get one of the best 2 way wings in the league along with a pretty underrated backup C on meh contract.

From the Timberwolves perspective, they get an abundance of talented young players to help bolster their team around Wiggins and KAT, they get a potential lottery pick in the very promising 2021 draft (they're opening it back up to highschool players) if the raptors end up not being able to resign kawhi and butler, and they get to roll the dice on Ibaka meshing well with KAT.